Dockton Road

Meeting to vet the issue

Heads up! Your life may be getting worse in 2011, unless you speak up now. 

Tomorrow night, King County will be presenting options for the road replacement along Tramp Harbor. Think you’re not involved? Of the five new options being put forward, four of them involve re-routing the existing 3,000 cars a day that now go past the Tramp Harbor pier to up Monument Road, past the high school, and through the already busy four-way stop at Center, which is packed with traffic to the elementary and middle schools.

Besides the big safety issues at the high school, drivers to the ferry or town will experience significant delays and three more stop signs. This will certainly cause frustration and increased commute times for nearly everyone.

Think the county would never do something this bad? Look at the “No Parking” signs on the wide, safe road on the west side of the ferry parking lot (originally to protect mailboxes and driveways), and consider the hundreds of parking tickets suddenly issued to people who had safely parked there for 30 years. 

Regarding the environmental effects of leaving the road as it is, the positive aspect of reminding 3,000 people every day of the beautiful harbor and shoreline that is in their stewardship is an important consideration.

More information is available at kingcounty.gov/roads, then select “Construction projects” and “Dockton Road.” There’s an e-mail contact, and one might be able to make comments that way, but it would have far more effect to attend the meeting Thursday night, 6 to 8 p.m., at McMurray Middle School. That’s tomorrow night.

— Frank Jackson

Flu

There’s no evidence shots are effective

Credible studies question the flu shot. Thus, a lead Cochrane review researcher comments: “Influenza vaccination continues to be recommended globally, despite growing doubts about the validity of the scientific evidence underpinning policy recommendations.”

“Evidence is of poor quality” and “the current mainstay … seems to be vaccines and antiviral drugs, with no evidence supporting their widespread use, especially against a seemingly mild threat such as the novel H1N1 virus.”

The International Journal of Epidemiology reports that “from 1989 to 1997, the vaccination rate for elderly persons (over) 65 years of age in the US increased from 30 to 67 percent. Despite this increase in coverage, mortality and hospitalization rates continued to increase rather than decline.”

Other credible studies favor the vaccine. The CDC recommends both a seasonal and a swine flu shot. Three Canadian health departments do not presently recommend both because the seasonal vaccine may possibly double the risk of getting swine flu.

Dr. Kuehl favors getting the H1N1 vaccine. Recent polls suggest a significant percentage of British general practitioners will decline the swine flu vaccination.

There is conflict on the wisdom of flu shots but not because one side is selectively misreading the data. Dr. Kuehl and I disagree, and neither of us can claim to have unassailable proof that we are right. There is no solid evidence that flu shots are effective. There is no firm evidence that the benefits outweigh the side effects.

When the data is unclear, opinions differ, and it is important to carefully and calmly consider all of the varying views on the issue.

— Kathy Abascal